Thread: Plywood for Wood Clock Gears

I would use aircraft ply. A little more expensive but very stable and beautifully finished......but if your practicing anything else would be ok.

Dean.

The standard seems to be Baltic Birch when it comes to clock gears. For me it seems that it doesn't chip or breakout as bad as other plys when scrolling or drilling. However, the biggest advantage is the the cores are more solid, no voids or holes between the plys. Cosmetically, it appears that the middle plys are more consistent in size and color and has a more acceptable appearance when done. Hope this helps...

With the more general purpose ply the amount of chipping and collapsing (from internal voids) makes for a very high frustration level. I would strongly recommend going with a good quality marine/aircraft ply.

Try these guys for Baltic Birch plywood.

-:PLYCO, Buy Plywood Online Now

Originally Posted by two40

Try these guys for Baltic Birch plywood.

-:PLYCO, Buy Plywood Online Now

Thanks, I'll go take a look, they are in Mornington. Do you know if they do offcuts.

Originally Posted by bloodandsawdust

Thanks, I'll go take a look, they are in Mornington. Do you know if they do offcuts.

Sorry, not sure about that. I've only purchased the standard boards they sell.

Shipping was reasonable to Sydney for others that might be interested.

Originally Posted by two40

Try these guys for Baltic Birch plywood.

-:PLYCO, Buy Plywood Online Now

Thanks, George. This is just what I needed too - an online NSW supplier of a range of decent plywoods. I tried Mr Plywood by email, but they never replied.

Originally Posted by Humphrey9999

Thanks, George. This is just what I needed too - an online NSW supplier of a range of decent plywoods. I tried Mr Plywood by email, but they never replied.

No problem. )

I've visited the Peakhurst Mr Plywood store and they did have a good range of ply but no Baltic Birch. In fact, they didn't know of Baltic Birch but to their credit they did try to source it for me although without any luck.

There is a mob out at Brookvale that imports Baltic ply but their panels were larger (can cut at a cost) and they were prohibitively expensive.

Shame we don't have a quality hobby style supplier that sells small sizes much like the Yanks do. I don't know if you've seen Clayton Boyer's plans but his parts lists typically call for 12" x 24" sizes in the varying thicknesses and that's because their hobby wood suppliers sell them in those sizes. I did get a couple of quotes from the States and the freight cost brought the prices up too high.

Originally Posted by two40

No problem. )

I've visited the Peakhurst Mr Plywood store and they did have a good range of ply but no Baltic Birch. In fact, they didn't know of Baltic Birch but to their credit they did try to source it for me although without any luck.

There is a mob out at Brookvale that imports Baltic ply but their panels were larger (can cut at a cost) and they were prohibitively expensive.

Shame we don't have a quality hobby style supplier that sells small sizes much like the Yanks do. I don't know if you've seen Clayton Boyer's plans but his parts lists typically call for 12" x 24" sizes in the varying thicknesses and that's because their hobby wood suppliers sell them in those sizes. I did get a couple of quotes from the States and the freight cost brought the prices up too high.

I have seen Clayton Boyer's plans - I followed your first build.
It'd be wonderful to have comparable suppliers here to those in the states, but unfortunately we're just too small a country - not enough local demand. It doesn't help that many of the local suppliers that we do have don't sell online.

I'd noticed that Rockler sell small sheets, 12" x 24" as you mention, I think, but figured that delivery would be the killer. They have a great range of stuff for small woodworking, but I usually only buy really small things to avoid high postage.

It is a bit tricky to track down.
I purchased a 1.2mx1.2mx6mm sheet of "aircraft" ply from Australian Timbers | Veneer | Panel Products | Duropal | Timber
It is make up of 12 laminates! Looks like Baltic Birch with zero voids.
Not cheap. I think it was like $165 inc GST. But it will make a lot of clocks.
You can also get good quality ply from the local hobby shop that specialises in planes. Link of the die hard RC plane modellers will build plans from scratch and use ply for the bulk heads.
My local shop in Adelaide has a couple of different thicknesses, they can also order it in.
I think a 0.3mx1.2m sheet of 6mm ply was around the $50 mark. So it is cheaper by the full sheet. Just depend on how many clocks you are going to make.

I made my own because 1/2 decent ply here is like hens teeth. I used beech cut on my band saw to 5mm thick with 2 bits glued together at 90º, turned to round and 6mm thick. It looks good and hasn't moved at all. Plus, as the wood came off the fire wood pile it's as cheap as chips too. I cut the teeth on my band saw too using a simple back stop to get the depth even and then filed the final contour with a Permagrit sanding tool.

All I need now is some weather so that I can get back in my workshop without freezing to death and I'll see about a dry run at putting it together?